Question

A certain shade of paint is made by mixing 5 parts blue paint with 2 parts white paint. To get the same shade of paint how much white paint should be mixed with 8.5 quarts of blue paint?

Answer 1

The concept that is useful to answering the question above is the ratio -proportion. Let x be the number of white paint that should be used in the mixture. The ratio - proportion expression of the given above is , 
 
                         5 parts / 2 parts = 8.5 quarts / x quarts

Solving for x gives an answer of x = 3.4. Thus, 3.4 quarts of white paint should be used for the mixture.